Saving Cedric
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: In a desperate attempt to escape an awkward meeting with Cedric's parents, years after his death, Cho accidentally sends herself back in time. While she's there anyway, she tries to change the future just a little bit. R&R please! :D


**A/N**: My story for Blissbug's To meddle with time-challenge on the HPFF-forums; I got Cho as a character and a Muggle Post office as a place. Just so you know ;) We were supposed to write a story about someone changing the past and therefore, the present/future as well. Hope you like it!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the world of Harry Potter

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I knew I should have stopped him that night from entering that maze. I had been walking through the school with a dreadful feeling days before the task, but I never told anyone. I wish I would have; maybe he would still be alive, then. Shaking my head, I knew I shouldn't be thinking about it – about him. It was years ago from now and I still hadn't let go completely. That had cost me relationships with other guys and I knew that I should try to forget about it – about him.

It was now a couple of months after the final battle, in which You-Know-Who had finally been defeated. I was walking through the Muggle neighbourhood my parents lived in (I hadn't moved out yet, even though it had been over a year since I had graduated) as I suddenly caught sight of the post office that had recently been rebuilt by the Muggles. Not quite knowing why, I made my way over there. Maybe it was because Muggles tended to sell the strangest things in post offices.

As I looked through the outrageous assortment of Muggle stuff (it was a _post office_, for Merlin's sake, what's there to sell except stamps and envelopes?), a familiar voice suddenly caught my attention. I slowly looked up, making sure that I was positioned behind the rack of postcards I was just searching. Indeed, it was _them_. As in, _his_ parents. What were they doing here? As far as I was aware, they didn't live anywhere nearby. Anyway, just like I couldn't completely let his death go, I still had the feeling that I couldn't face his parents. For some reason, I thought they might hold me responsible for his death.

They made their way over to the corner where I was standing, and I frantically looked around. Why didn't I have an Invisibility Cloak or something? I quickly drew my wand, pointed it at myself and muttered what I thought was the Disillusionment Charm. Instead of the usual sensation that goes through your body when you're under this charm (I had used it to escape from difficult situations before), I felt as if I was sent flying. Of course, I was used to flying, but this was incredibly strange.

In the end, I fell. On a hard floor. Looking up, I noticed that it wasn't exactly a floor I had landed on. More like grass. Looking better, I noticed something familiar about my environs. These were the Hogwarts grounds…

After I had gotten rid of a terrible headache that had come up a little earlier (this time, I did use the right spell), I stood up and looked around again. Yes, these were definitely the Hogwarts grounds. Suddenly, I caught sight of something I had never hoped to see again. The maze.

What would that maze be doing here still? No, what was it doing here _again_? This couldn't be… but then, at once, I realised something. I had somehow sent myself back in time, and I had no idea how I was ever going to go back. My eyes widened, I could just feel it. The reason? I had realised something else. It was not too late yet. I could still save him. Or, at least, I could give it a try.

It wasn't very hard to find him. It was as if I remembered every single moment we had spent together, so I knew exactly were to find him… them… us. And I knew when he would be leaving the castle, when he might be alone, and when he would enter the maze. Slightly creepy, when you think about it.

I had hidden myself just around a corner, from where I could see the maze, and the front doors. All of a sudden, _he_ walked out. All alone. _Perfect_. I waited until he was close enough and then hit him with a Body Binding Spell and a Summoning Spell. How do Muggles even live without magic? I don't think I'd ever be capable of doing that.

When I had made sure we were absolutely out of sight, I released him from his body bind. He stared at me for a moment and I found myself staring right back. Even though I was now a couple of years older, I still felt captivated by him, by his entire… being.

"Cho?" His voice, him speaking to me (after all those years!) shook me awake. "What are we doing here? What happened to you? You look… different."

"Cedric," I started; after years of avoiding, at any cost, having to speak of him, it was a strange sensation to feel that I could still say his name. "I – you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Well, why don't you give it a try?" he asked, shooting an encouraging smile my way. I still felt weak in my knees when he did that.

"The point is – oh, how do I explain this? See, Cedric, I'm – from the future. Yes, really," I said, when he looked disbelieving and ready to interrupt me. "Somehow, I managed to send myself back a couple of years. And now I'm trying to save you."

"Save me?" he echoed. "And what do you mean, from the future? What future? When? How did you get here?"

"I have no idea," I answered truthfully. "It's a few years later now… about three years. And – " At this point, I temporarily couldn't speak anymore. Could I really tell him his fate and change the future? Looking into his eyes, I couldn't help but confirm that. Yes, I could. It was all for the better. "You – you are going to die tonight."

He looked very incredulous by now and I couldn't blame him. If I were in his situation, I'm not sure if I would still be sitting here. "I'm going to die? Tonight?" He let out a dry laugh. "Come on, Cho, this is ridiculous. Whatever kind of joke this is, it isn't exactly funny."

"No, it isn't," I said softly. "But I'm not joking, Cedric! That cup – it's a Portkey! It's all a set-up, you will take the cup along with Harry and it will transport you to – somewhere, and You-Know-Who will kill you and then revive himself and – "

I looked up at him, interrupting my own rant, and saw disbelief in his eyes. Of course, this story was too weird to be true. "Cho," he spoke, sounding uncertain, "do you have any idea how strange this all sounds? But if you're right – and I'm not saying that you are, I'm sorry – then no one should enter that maze tonight."

I hadn't even thought about that. Why save only Cedric and leave the entire wizarding world to be dominated by You-Know-Who? I nodded fervently. "Yes – you're right. Let's go tell Dumbledore." Dumbledore, who might not die in two years, then.

"Uh – sure. Why don't you wait here? I'll go and get him." And he was gone. This still felt very surreal, just sitting here and chatting with him. Although it wasn't really a pleasant chat we were having.

A couple of minutes later, Cedric returned with Dumbledore. I silently thanked Merlin that there weren't numerous other people tagging along. "Miss Chang? Mr Diggory here tells me that you have an important message for us tonight?"

"Er – yes, I do. I guess. Er – like I just told Cedric, I'm from the future. But you might have guessed that already." Dumbledore nodded curtly and I continued, panic building. "I have no idea how I ended up here. But it's all a trick, Professor, the Cup – it's a Portkey which leads to a graveyard and – You-Know-Who, he'll rise again tonight, he's going to be alive again!"

Dumbledore just stared at me with an investigating look and I hoped he would believe me. I even tried to tell him through an (of course non-existent) telepathic connection that I was speaking the truth. "Very well, Miss Chang. I will personally take care of this. Can you tell me who you believe is responsible for this?"

I nodded slowly. "Professor Moody, sir. But he's an imposter too – I think it's Crouch's son, or something like that?"

Dumbledore let out a heavy sigh. "Very well. I will see what I can do. Why don't you try to get home safely, Miss Chang?"

I nodded again and looked after them as they returned towards the maze. I pointed my wand at myself once more and started muttering spells, deteriorations of the spell I had intended to use earlier. I couldn't wait to see what had become the outcome of what I had told Cedric and Dumbledore tonight.

At least, that was the plan. It soon was an hour later and I hadn't managed to get back yet. This was not going well. "Miss Chang?" Upon hearing the voice, I spun around. It was Dumbledore again.

"Yes, Professor?" I tried to keep my voice straight, but I was failing miserably.

"No luck yet?" he asked, seeming slightly amused. Wonderful. "You'll be happy to hear that the last task has been adjourned. An investigation will be started and we'll just have to see what the results will be. For now, everyone is save. Now, let me help you, Miss Chang." He then pointed his wand at me and suddenly, everything went black.

For the second time that day, I landed on a rough surface. It was surprising I hadn't broken all my bones already. This place looked different (though only slightly) from the post office where I had started off.

"Excuse me, Miss, can I help you with anything?" an old man, probably the shopkeeper, asked me kindly.

"No, thanks, I – " Deciding that it would be odd if I'd tell him that I was fine, I hastily swallowed the rest of my sentence. "I was just on my way out, actually. Thank you." I hurried past the man, through the door, outside. The street, too, hadn't changed a lot from when I was here before. I wouldn't rest, though, before I knew what exactly I had changed, so I headed home.

"Mum? Dad?" I called, opening our front door.

"Cho?" my mum called back from, it seemed, the living room. "What are you doing here?"

Entering the living room, I looked around. Not much change, either. Had I even done anything? Or had Dumbledore set me up? Maybe he had erased Cedric's memory and possibly his own too, and he had gone through with the challenge as if nothing had happened. "What do you mean, what am I doing here? I live here, right?" I asked, not knowing what else to answer my parents.

My father chuckled. Odd. He normally doesn't do that much. "Of course, honey, you can always say you live here. But we thought you were so happy about moving out that you wouldn't come back for at least a couple of days!" I couldn't believe him. I had moved out? How was that possible? I was only nineteen, after all, and there was plenty of time for me to get a place for myself.

"Er – right," I said, scratching the back of my head. How am I supposed to get myself out of this situation? I was saved, how originally, by the doorbell. My mother stood up and returned moments later, talking to someone.

"She just arrived here, seems a little lost, I must say, but – " I didn't hear anything else my mum said. He was here! O gosh. He looked even better now than a few years ago, and trust me, that's saying something. I still got butterflies in my stomach by just looking at him, let alone if he'd kiss me – which was exactly what he did.

"Cho," he started, and at that moment, I felt happier than I had felt for years, "care to tell me why you were gone all of a sudden?"

"G-gone?" I stuttered. Why would I ever go away from him, willingly?

He chuckled. Why does everyone chuckle now? Is it something I said? "Yes. One moment you were there, and when I brought you some tea, you weren't there anymore. I thought you'd gotten cold feet after all." I could only blink. I had officially no idea what he was talking about. "You know, about us moving in together…" he added, and suddenly, it clicked. He might be the only reason I would ever move out of my parents' house before I was twenty-something.

"Er – no, I just – remembered that I had left something here, so I – came to pick it up. Yeah. No cold feet here, sorry," I replied, smiling. "But I've already got it so why don't we head back?" Shooting me a grin (and making me feel like I was in heaven), he grabbed my hand and disapparated.

That evening, as we were on the couch together, he told me, "I think I know what happened today."

"You do?" How could he know? Was I that obvious? Oh, wait, of course –

"I recalled a certain event during my sixth year – near the end, actually…"

"I know, I came from the future and – yeah, that's indeed what happened today. But tell me, what happened after that?"

"Well, to put it simply: Dumbledore took the Portkey, along with some Ministry officials, and at the graveyard, he finished off You-Know-Who and all the Death Eaters they could find were taken to Azkaban." Seeing my disbelieving look, he laughed slightly. "I don't think I want to know what happened in your version of this story."

"I don't think you do… it was certainly a lot more difficult than yours, that's for sure." He made it all sound so easy. Why wasn't that the way it happened the first time around? It would've definitely saved me some trouble. But who was I to complain now? Everything was perfect now, it seemed. I was perfectly content where I was now, on the couch, with Cedric. And all was well.

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**A/N**: What do you think? Let me know in a review :D Anyway, if you think this ending was too good to be true… I'll be posting an alternate version of the changed reality soon!


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